OMG Metal Gear

Sigint was a member of the original FOX unit during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 in 1964. Major Zero saw his potential and recruited him for the unit under the supervision of the CIA after discrimination towards Sigint's African-American race made it difficult for him to secure a position on his own. He took a support role during the Virtuous Mission and Operation: Snake Eater as an advisor of weapons, equipment, and technology, and he is the developer of such tools as the Active Sonar, Motion Detector, and AP Sensor. Sigint was also known as an eccentric designer of masks for use in covert operations--most notably the Raikov mask, of whose blinking eyes he was especially proud.

Sigint's primary interest--as indicated by his codename--lies in intelligence gathering through the interception and analysis of human or electronic communications and signals. Signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis and traffic analysis. In 1965, Sigint left FOX to join ARPA and participate in the development of ARPANET, a packet-switching network project that made old circuit-switching data communication systems obsolete and laid the foundations for the global Internet.

Donald Anderson was awarded the Intelligence Star Badge and assigned the post of Chief of DARPA after working as an analyst for the CIA for over ten years. DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, had been known as ARPA until 1972; while the agency is responsible for developing new military technology and maintaining a superior gap with regard to the United States' enemies, many of its technologies have led to worldwide innovations in computing systems and networks.

Anderson advocated nuclear retaliation theory, which aims to deter nuclear attack through the promise of superior strike capabilities--a logical extension of DARPA's mandate to maintain technological superiority. As a result, Anderson funded the Metal Gear REX project out of the black budget as a joint venture with ArmsTech, a leading civilian weapons manufacturer. During the uprising on Shadow Moses, Anderson was taken hostage and tortured for--supposedly--his warhead activation codes; he did not survive.

Although Ocelot pretended that Anderson's death was an accident, a conversation with the President of the United States after Metal Gear Solid's closing credits reveals that the DARPA chief was aware of his double identity as a CIA operative working directly for the President. What is interesting here is that Ocelot was forced to eliminate Anderson because his time with the CIA would have given him knowledge of Ocelot's ties to the organization, but Ocelot needed to stage the torture accident so as not to arouse the suspicion of Liquid Snake and the other FOX-HOUND members. It's not easy being a double agent.

As there is no direct confirmation of the link between Sigint and Donald Anderson either within a Metal Gear game or from Kojima himself, it is not possible to claim it as canon. However, their careers and areas of expertise align perfectly; it can virtually be taken as fact that the two characters are intended to be one and the same. My initial source for this theory is mgsforums.com, though I have since come across other websites drawing the connection, as well. Although it is unlikely that this forum thread is the original birthplace of the discovery--just as no one fan can clearly be credited--this nonetheless remains an exciting accomplishment of the fan community, as well as a testament to the depth of detail and care written into the Metal Gear series.